Please read and take it seriously,
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can be deadly for you and your family, if it is not treated.
Look at the news you see so many soldiers that suffer from PTSD disorder and they don't get help. Our loved ones who we know enter the military where they are trained to be killing machines, not to think or ask questions. They are trained to follow orders no matter what. They no longer have independent thinking.
The things we loved most about our loved ones is gone. The military breaks them down and takes away their individual uniqueness and replaces it with emptiness. After training the solider are all the same, no individual characteristics that make them different.
When the men and women come home, they are not deprogrammed. They are still the killing machines that is the product of military training and war. They are trained to react in a moments notice to save their own life or a fellow soldiers life.
With PTSD disorder it only takes something such as a noise, smell, touch, taste to trigger a flashback that makes the person feel that they are in danger or are being attacked. This is why the soldiers act so quickly and sometimes it ends up in tragedy. The military is not doing enough to help our soldiers instead our soldiers and families are left to figure it out on their own.
For some soldiers the PTSD disorder doesn't affect them right away. For my father, he came home from Vietnam, recovered from being blown out of a supply truck, got married and had four children before he showed any signs of PTSD Disorder.
First it was the nightmares of the war and seeing his friends killed in front of him, then he started to zone out seeing the past through flashbacks while in the present he was pulling knives on my mother which I witnessed at the age of 3 or 4 years old.
I also remember my dad yelling, "Where are the enemies?" as he is searching for us in the house as my mother quickly hides us in closets and covers us up with coats, blankets, anything she could find while telling us to be quiet and not to move. She promised to come get us when she put daddy to bed. We were so scared at night we would urinate down our heating vent rather than go downstairs to the bathroom.
My mother reached out for help with my dad's family and they said she was crazy there was nothing wrong with my dad. She was able to find a small support group that taught her how to care for my dad carefully while in a flashback. She was brave enough to take the knives out of his hands, while being calm, and was able to bring him slowly back to the present.
When it got really bad, she took me and my three sisters to a Caring House because my dad refused to get help. He felt by admitting he needed help that he wasn't a strong solider. After my mother filed for divorce, he agreed to get help. After his PTSD was under control, we moved back home and he was able to keep himself and his disorder in control.
My dad talked openly to me about his PTSD until May 24, 2012 when he passed away. When I was diagnosed with PTSD my dad shared alot with me of his own struggles and he helped me with advice and advocated for other to get help immediately. Article published about my dad's story at http://homecomingvets.wordpress.com/the-affects-of-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-on-our-soldiers-and-their-families/
Today every time I see in the newspaper or on the news that another solider committed suicide or kills his family, I can't help but think that could have been my family. There are still soldiers out in the battle fields who are on multiple tours in Iraq that have PTSD disorder and ends up killing his fellow soldiers because he can't take it anymore. Recent article on a solider coming home and ends in tragedy. http://isupportourveterans.com/?p=916
The same is true about civilians with PTSD. They can kill or commit suicide if they think they are in danger or don't want to deal with all the symptoms that PTSD causes.
I am proof you can survive PTSD disorder and get it under control and live a normal and happy life.
Don't be another Statistic.
Please go to www.silencednolonger.com to learn the warning signs of PTSD, treatments available, and resources for help.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can be deadly for you and your family, if it is not treated.
Look at the news you see so many soldiers that suffer from PTSD disorder and they don't get help. Our loved ones who we know enter the military where they are trained to be killing machines, not to think or ask questions. They are trained to follow orders no matter what. They no longer have independent thinking.
The things we loved most about our loved ones is gone. The military breaks them down and takes away their individual uniqueness and replaces it with emptiness. After training the solider are all the same, no individual characteristics that make them different.
When the men and women come home, they are not deprogrammed. They are still the killing machines that is the product of military training and war. They are trained to react in a moments notice to save their own life or a fellow soldiers life.
With PTSD disorder it only takes something such as a noise, smell, touch, taste to trigger a flashback that makes the person feel that they are in danger or are being attacked. This is why the soldiers act so quickly and sometimes it ends up in tragedy. The military is not doing enough to help our soldiers instead our soldiers and families are left to figure it out on their own.
For some soldiers the PTSD disorder doesn't affect them right away. For my father, he came home from Vietnam, recovered from being blown out of a supply truck, got married and had four children before he showed any signs of PTSD Disorder.
First it was the nightmares of the war and seeing his friends killed in front of him, then he started to zone out seeing the past through flashbacks while in the present he was pulling knives on my mother which I witnessed at the age of 3 or 4 years old.
I also remember my dad yelling, "Where are the enemies?" as he is searching for us in the house as my mother quickly hides us in closets and covers us up with coats, blankets, anything she could find while telling us to be quiet and not to move. She promised to come get us when she put daddy to bed. We were so scared at night we would urinate down our heating vent rather than go downstairs to the bathroom.
My mother reached out for help with my dad's family and they said she was crazy there was nothing wrong with my dad. She was able to find a small support group that taught her how to care for my dad carefully while in a flashback. She was brave enough to take the knives out of his hands, while being calm, and was able to bring him slowly back to the present.
When it got really bad, she took me and my three sisters to a Caring House because my dad refused to get help. He felt by admitting he needed help that he wasn't a strong solider. After my mother filed for divorce, he agreed to get help. After his PTSD was under control, we moved back home and he was able to keep himself and his disorder in control.
My dad talked openly to me about his PTSD until May 24, 2012 when he passed away. When I was diagnosed with PTSD my dad shared alot with me of his own struggles and he helped me with advice and advocated for other to get help immediately. Article published about my dad's story at http://homecomingvets.wordpress.com/the-affects-of-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-on-our-soldiers-and-their-families/
Today every time I see in the newspaper or on the news that another solider committed suicide or kills his family, I can't help but think that could have been my family. There are still soldiers out in the battle fields who are on multiple tours in Iraq that have PTSD disorder and ends up killing his fellow soldiers because he can't take it anymore. Recent article on a solider coming home and ends in tragedy. http://isupportourveterans.com/?p=916
The same is true about civilians with PTSD. They can kill or commit suicide if they think they are in danger or don't want to deal with all the symptoms that PTSD causes.
I am proof you can survive PTSD disorder and get it under control and live a normal and happy life.
Don't be another Statistic.
Please go to www.silencednolonger.com to learn the warning signs of PTSD, treatments available, and resources for help.
Such an important post Leslie. This was such a profound post and I know this will help many people that are suffering through this. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSyl Stein
You are welcome. This subject is really close to my heart and my ministry. I want to help other peers.
Delete